Islamic tradition states that the Zamzam Well was revealed to Hagar (Hājar), the second wife of Abraham and mother of Ishmael. By the instruction of God, Abraham left his wife and son at a spot in the desert and walked away. She was desperately seeking water for her infant son, but she could not find any, as Mecca is located in a hot dry valley with few sources of water. Hagar ran seven times back and forth in the scorching heat between the two hills of Safa and Marwah, looking for water. Getting thirstier by the second, the infant Ishmael scraped the land with his feet, where suddenly water sprang out. There are other versions of the story involving God sending his angel, Gabriel (Jibra'il), who kicked the ground with his heel (or wing), and the water rose. A similar story about a well is also mentioned in the Bible.
The Zamzam Well's location for men. The location for women is separate.
The name of the well comes from the phrase Zomë Zomë, meaning "stop flowing", a command repeated by Hagar during her attempt to contain the spring water.
According to Islamic tradition, Abraham rebuilt the Bayt Allah ("House of God", cognate of the Hebrew-derived place name Bethel) near the site of the well, a building which had been originally constructed by Adam (Adem), and today is called the Kaaba, a building toward which Muslims a
The well originally had two cisterns in the first era, one for drinking and one for ablution. At that time, it was a simple well surrounded by a fence of stones. Then in the era of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur 771 AD (154/155 AH) a dome was built above the well, and it was tiled with marble.
In 775 AD (158/159 AH), Al-Mahdi rebuilt the well during his caliphate, and built a dome of teak which was covered with mosaic. One small dome covered the well, and a larger dome covered the room for the pilgrims. In 835 AD (220 AH) there was further restoration, and the dome was covered with marble during the caliphate of Al-Mu'tasim.
Pilgrims visiting the well.
In 1417 (819/820 AH), during the time of the Mamluks, the mosque was damaged by fire, and required restoration. Further restoration occurred in 1430 (833/834 AH), and again in 1499 (904/95 AH) during the time of Sultan Qaitbay, when the marble was replaced.
In modern times, the most extensive restoration took place to the dome during the era of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1915 (1333/1334 AH). To facilitate crowd control, the building housing the Zamzam was moved away from its original location, to get it out of the way of the Tawaf, when millions of pilgrims would circumambulate the Kaaba. The water of the well is now pumped to the eastern part of the mosque, where it was made available in separate locations for men and women.
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